On March 26, McLean’s varsity baseball team took on Langley at home. The team was looking to avenge their earlier loss to Langley that same week.
“We definitely felt like we didn’t play to our full potential on Tuesday,” senior left hand pitcher J.W. Riggins said.
The Highlanders started the game with Riggins on the mound. He struck out his first hitter before allowing a base hit. The top of the first inning ended shortly after though, as the Highlanders were able to turn a double play for their next two outs.
McLean’s bats started off slow, with their first two hitters striking out. Riggins was able to break the dry spell after an error from the Saxons field got him a double. This victory was short lived however, as senior outfield Ryan Riggins struck out after a long at-bat to end the first inning.
The second inning included much more action from both teams with Langley getting their first run of the game at the top of the second. After two more strikeouts and a fly-ball Langley went back to pitching.
In the bottom of the second, McLean was able to get the bases loaded early. Sophomore Carter Jones capitalized on this with a line drive to send a run in and Junior Caius Antolik executed a perfect sac-fly for one more.
A line drive by junior Adam Wormington then scored the second and third runs of the inning. Wormington then stole home off of a wild pitch for McLeans last run of the second inning to put them up 4-1.
The third inning followed the theme of the second, a walk, and back-to-back doubles led to two runs scoring for Langley. They then executed a sac-fly to score another before striking out to end the top of the inning.
The bottom of the third was a scoring frenzy for the Highlanders. Senior Dan Ockerman got on base first following an error from Langley. Jones followed with a single of his own, senior catcher Reid Turner then got a double to allow the Highlanders to score.
Turner then was able to score after a hit from Riggins into right field. Riggins then stole second and scored after a single from senior Ryan Riggins, Ryan then stole two bases and was able to get home off of a wild pitch ending the third inning with a big lead.
“The team was really happy with the hitting in the third,” junior pitcher Jean-Lloyd Prouty said. “Its a testament to our hard work in practice.”
The fourth inning began with senior pitcher Nathan Tsitsibelis replacing JW. Tsitsibelis pitched well, allowing a single, then getting three quick outs to end the top of the fourth.
Jones continued his strong game with a home run to start his fourth inning. The Saxons then walked the freshman Dev Prell before a double by junior Justin Ball got Prell to third, the Highlanders scored again and a double play ended the inning.
Langley started to come back in the fifth inning, as a double and poor fielding allowed Langley to cut McLean’s lead to just 6. The Highlanders then made a pitching change, bringing in senior Colin Tomasulo to try and stop the bleeding. He immediately struck out the next pitcher to end the inning.
The bottom of the fifth began with a hit from JW, who stole second base before another hit from Jones brought him home. At this point, the mercy rule came into play and the Highlanders won 17-7.
“The whole team played well, and we were able to get the win,” Prouty said. “If we play to our potential every game, we will be unstoppable.”
The Highlanders look ahead to their spring break tournament, where they play four games in the same week over the extended duration.
“We have a lot of tough games ahead of us,” JW said, “ but we know we are good enough to win all of them.”
